DICE On Battlefront: We’re An Infantry Game At Core, We Know People Struggle With Flying

Some Star Wars fans were disappointed when they learned that there would be no space battles in Battlefront, at least not at launch. There is, however, a dedicated dogfighting mode: Fighter Squadron. The mode (where up to 20 human players are mixed with AI opponents) has been criticized by those who loved Lucasarts’ X-Wing VS Tie Fighter games because of its simpler mechanics.

In an interview with Metro GameCentral, DICE Senior Producer Sigurlína Ingvarsdottir explained why the team chose this implementation for Star Wars Battlefront, adding that the mode is actually popular.

…at the core, we’re an infantry game. The biggest part of our experience is infantry and being DICE we have been doing vehicles for a long time. And I think we do it really, really well. But we know people struggle with flying. We know there’s lots of people that like flying in Battlefield but there’s also a lot of people that don’t. And so it becomes a bit polarising, and the ambition here is to have that experience available for players and make it easy for them.
And what we’ve seen is that it has worked out quite well. It’s often times mentioned as people’s favourite mode. And then I get the questions, ‘So what about a pilot career path or putting perks into it or are you going to do more with it…?’ And I get very happy when I get asked these questions because I think that it seems like we’ve captured something people enjoy.

In general, with gamers, it’s become quite popular. It’s the mode that most people tell us that they’re surprised about how fun it is and how easy it is fly the starfighters. Because we know that flying is often so hard in games and people struggle with it.

I can definitely see her point, as I’ve never touched jets and the likes in Battlefield games. The thing is, though, after trying them in the beta I’m not that eager to be a pilot in Battlefront either, despite the exciting fantasy behind it; I just prefer the ground gameplay and that’s it. Perhaps DICE would have been better off by giving pilots what they really want without thinking too much about luring infantry soldiers towards a TIE Fighter.

What do you think about this? By the way, Star Wars Battlefront is out now in the United States for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, while Europe will have to wait November 20. Stay tuned for our review.